Kim M. Cobb

Born: 1974

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

Yale University BA Biology & Geology 1996; UCSD Scripps Institute of Oceanography PhD Oceanography 2022

""The instrumental record of climate is far too short to identify some of the most important changes in climate under greenhouse forcing. Paleoclimate data is coming to the rescue, looking at past droughts, extreme events, and sea level change". (Wikipedia); My research has brought me to the front lines of climate change. I've been an eyewitness to a coral bleaching and mortality event in the middle of the Pacific Ocean caused by a marine heat wave. But on the other end of that devastation, we see some of the resilience that nature can bring to even the worst classes of climate extremes that are raining down right now. And so it's important to remember that there is resilience baked into ecosystems. There is resilience baked into human systems. But the further we push this, the less resilient we are." (npr.org); "Climate science works for public good, and when that is trampled upon, we are risking the welfare of the public. That’s why I am thoroughly and completely engaged in making sure that this science is not torn apart, and it is not belittled, and not set aside; it should be centered in any policy framework and be allowed to be weighed in terms of policy development."(climateaware.org); "We are flat out of time, and we’ve been deluding ourselves that we have time to avoid some of the most catastrophic impacts, but we are out of time. And so right now we are just going to have to switch into damage control mode and we’re going to have to help people understand that we really need to get going on emissions reductions." (climateaware.org); " I might say that finding a supportive community for yourself as an early career scientist is extremely important. So finding people you can talk to, mentors you can bounce things off of, share experiences with, get advice from, is critically important. " (climateaware,org);"

— Kim M. Cobb

Field of Study: Climate Science

Institution/Corporation: Georgia Tech; Brown University

Degrees & Memberships: Member: Editorial board of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; American Geophysical Union (2023); American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012), President's Intelligence Advisory Board (2023), Founder & Director Carbon Reduction Challenge (2016-22), Poptech Science & Public Leadership Fellow (2010)

Awards: 2007 NSF CAREER Award; 2007 Education Partnership Award, Georgia Tech; 2008 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE); 2009 Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellowship; 2019 The 2020 Hans Oeschger Medal, European Geosciences Union; 2022 Soft Power Prize, Venice, Italy; 2020 Star Award, Institute for People & Technology, Georgia Tech; 2019 Groetzinger Moving Forward Award, Georgia Tech; 2018 Reimagine Education Award for the Carbon Reduction Challenge; 2015 Fellow Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems, Georgia Tech; 2013 Sigma Xi Best Faculty Paper Award; 2010 EAS Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

Achievements: studied El Nino & La Nina; she & her team collected ancient coral fragments & cave statagmites, aged them with uranium-thorium dating & used the oxygen isotope ratio cycle to measure the intensity of El Nino & La Nina events; research interests include tropical Pacific climate, coral reefs, global water cycle, climate data-model intercomparison, coastal climate resistance & urban heat islands; was involved in a project in Georgia to install a network of sea level sensors along the coast to provide real time information to help warn neighborhoods about potential flooding